Watch: 2017 Ford Fusion Sport Senses Potholes

You may have heard us discussing it this week on The Richard Piet Show - finally, a car that helps you avoid pothole damage!

Ford Motor Company is touting its 2017 Fusion Sport sedan, equipped with a pothole mitigation systems which helps those craters feel less jarring - and maybe save you the expense of a bent rim or blown tire.

Of course, it's high tech - and Ford describes it this way in a news release:

"Onboard computers analyze multiple signals collected from 12 high-resolution sensors – adjusting the dampers every two milliseconds for the best vehicle response in every situation. When the edge of a pothole is detected, the car’s computer adjusts the dampers faster than the blink of an eye to their stiffest settings so the wheel doesn’t fall as far into the pothole. Because the tire and wheel don’t drop as far, they don’t strike the opposite side of the pothole as harshly. The rear suspension can respond even faster, with a signal from the front wheel providing a pre-warning to the rear wheel well before it reaches the pothole."

In order to see the system in action, Ford created a ping pong ball test which shows the technology that keeps the tire from sinking into the depths of a pothole:

Ford engineers are developing new technology to detect and avoid the world’s worst potholes, helping owners on the road.